This study will examine the Russian medical profession, to ascertain how and why it evolved differently from other European and the American medical professions. The half century between the beginning of the Reform Era and the 1905 Revolution was a period of dynamic change, when Russian physicians shifted from their former role as state officials to a new role as more independent professionals. The physicians retained, however, the service orientation intrinsic to state service and incorporated that ethic into zemstvo medicine, a system of free rural medical care developed under the newly-constituted institutions of local self-government (zemstvos). The commitment of the profession to the program of zemstvo medicine was so great, that when the zemstvos were threatened by the tsarist regime at the turn of the century, thousands of physicians joined the "zemstvo opposition movement" that led the nation to the 1905 Revolution. The objective of this study is to analyze the unusual characteristics of the Russian medical profession, in order to understand why it supported a system of free medical care, funded by local governments, staffed by salaried medical personnel, dedicated to spreading a network of physicians and clinics throughout Russia to establish preventive medicine programs, and also, why the commitment to zemstvo medicine propelled physicians into the nation's political life. The methods used are based on a thorough knowledge of the social, political, and institutional history of Russia, competence in Russian and French, and extensive experience in using the rich collections of 19th century medical publications in libraries in the United States. All the sources needed for this study have been located at LC, NLM, Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. (Hoover Collection)